i wrote a post last year on a strange item in uniport's school fees schedule. that strange item was called municipality. i was a student of the institution at the time and was distressed as everybody was on the more than 50% increment of school fees. the question at the time was what is municipality. it was gathered that it was some kind of tax the university of port harcourt pays to the host community; choba.

why will a federal university pay tax to its host community? that same question popped into my head when i read that the choba community is asking for a whooping 4.5 billion naira from the university as a compensation for unused lands. i still don't understand what the V.C. prof. Ajienka means by unused lands and why the community needs to be compensated.

If am not mistaken, we were taught back in high school about something called the land use act. which says that all land belong to the federal government. if that is correct, then why will an institution owned by the federal government pay a sort of compensation to its local host community. It should be the other way round; the host community should be grateful for the immense development the institution has brought to their community.

Choba is a community located at the outskirt of the garden city of port harcourt. it lies strategically along the popular east-west road at the intersection with the NTA-Mgbuoba road. Choba was an unknown community that if left on its own might never make the news except for maybe communal clashes or something of that nature.

the location of the university of portharcourt in this community have made it famous and have opened it up for development. with companies like indomie's dufril prima foods and willbros now ASCOT located in the heart of the community. Real estate is thriving in choba and its surroundings as less than 10% of the students of uniport live in the university hostels. hence, a thriving market for off campus accommodation.

It seems the community have ran out of lands to sell as that is their main occupation and now they remembered that the uniport sits on their land, hence they need to be compensated. The University of port harcourt is choba's big messiah and the least the community can do is appreciate the institution for all it has done for it not asking for compensation on land. they cant eat their bread and have it

http://itoldthem..com/2013/03/tax-isnt-enough-now-choba-wants-n45-bn.html